Despite Lewis Hamilton and George Russell enjoying a close battle with one another, veteran F1 Journalist Peter Windsor believes the move was a mistake from the Silver Arrows. According to him, the Brackley-based outfit should have stuck with Valtteri Bottas instead of associating with Russell.
Speaking in an analysis video of the Las Vegas GP on his official YouTube channel, Windsor claimed Russell’s term as a Mercedes driver had dire consequences for the 7-time world champion as the young Briton is “eating into” the 38-year-old’s confidence.
“When you watch Bottas in that black Alpha[Tauri] looks a little bit like Bottas in the black Mercedes days and you still think, ‘did Mercedes do the right thing in firing him and replacing him with George Russell?'”
Back in 2021, Mercedes had a decision to make as they needed to choose between investing in the future with Russell or to continue investing in the present with Bottas. Having chosen the former, Mercedes had to show the Finnish driver the exit door, inviting Russell to take the vacant seat. In his first season with the team, Russell registered his first career race win with a victory in Brazil, which is also Mercedes’ only race win since 2021.
Hamilton currently enjoys a lead over Russell in the driver’s standings but has not won a single race since 2021, marking his longest stint without a race win in his F1 career. Windsor says, “In terms of getting the best out of Lewis [Hamilton], we would’ve had a different Lewis today.” Hamilton’s radio messages enquiring about Russell’s position and his subsequent responses haven’t been a pleasant sight either.
Russell wouldn’t be a part of Mercedes if Lewis Hamilton called all the shots
Throughout their time together at Mercedes, Hamilton was always appreciative of the support by Valtteri Bottas. As his contract came close to ending in 2021, Hamilton urged Toto Wolff to renew Bottas’ contract with the team so they could continue being teammates. However, Wolff opted against listening to his most cherished asset and decided to end the team’s ties with the Finnish driver.
Speaking about the dynamics between Hamilton and Russell, Windsor claimed that having both of them on the same team was not an ideal setup in the longer run of things. The same was evident when both drivers went head to head against each other during the Japanese Grand Prix. Even the closing stages of the Singapore GP saw Hamilton put immense pressure on Russell, which ended in disaster for the 25-year-old.
